Bloom inhibited chocolate



Patented Jan. 20, 1953 BLOOM INHIBITED CHOCOLATE Sherwood Thomas Cross,Elsmere, Del., assignor to Atlas Powder Company, Wilmington, Del., a

corporation of Delaware Application June 6, 1951,

No Drawing.

Serial No. 230,255

19 Claims. 1

This is a continuation in part of application No. 172,199, filed July 5,1950, now Patent No. 2,586,615. This invention relates to solidchocolate materials and chocolate coated products. More particularly itrelates to confectionery chocolate, suitable for the preparation ofbars, enrobing, icings, and the like.

It is an object of the present invention to produce a chocolate which iscolor stable upon storage.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a process oftreating chocolate for use as a candy confection or in the preparationof edible products such as candy confections and chocolate coateddesserts which is stabilized against discoloration.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ediblechocolate stabilized against discoloration which does not varyessentially in composition or physical properties from the conventionalconfectionery materials in commercial usage.

The discoloration of solid chocolate materials during storage is amatter of common experience. Chocolate bars and certain chocolateenrobed confections tend to fade and/or change in color under certainconditions of storage and composition. This phenomenon is known to thetrade as bloom. It may be a low temperature bloom which is a grey tolight brown hue, or a more pronounced, very tan discoloration known ashigh temperature bloom which occurs under extreme temperative variationsrendering the chocolate heat struck. It is a cause of considerablefinancial loss and embarrassment among manufacturers of such materials.Contrary to popular opinion, bloom is not necessarily associated withstaleness. For instance, it has been found that temperature cycling andcertain ingredient proportions are factors conducive to bloom formation.Thus, a product supplied to airetail merchant in a fresh and wholesomecondition is often found to be so faded that its unpalatable appearancemakes it unsuitable for sale.

The physical or chemical nature of the change which accompanies thisunsightly phenomenon is not known. The taste and technical requirementsof the industry preclude any substantial modifications of the chocolatecompositions as currently employed. For instance, such a manufacturingprocess as enrobing is highly sensitive to the melting point andviscosity properties. Furthermore, foreign tastes must be avoided andthe characteristic chocolate flavor must be 2 preserved to thesatisfaction of the consuming public.

In accordance with the present invention it has been discovered that bythe incorporation of minor amounts of certain materials to be describedhereinafter within a chocolate-product, the tendency to grey or bloom isgreatly reduced without any other noticeable effect upon the appearanceor taste of the unstabilized ma terial.

The term chocolate product as employed in this application is intendedto include the solid or semiplastic food prepared by finely grindingcacao nibs and compositions wherein this ma.- terial is an essentialingredient. Thus, within the expression is included such material commonly known as chocolate liquor, chocolate, bitter chocolate, bakingchocolate, cooking chocolate, chocolate coating and"bitter chocolatecoating; the alkali treated cacao products known as Dutch chocolate;chocolate, saccharine compositions known as sweet chocolate or sweetchocolate coating; bittersweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate coating,semisweet chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate coating wherein thesaccharine ingredient may be sucrose, dextrose, dried corn syrup and thelike; and the chocolate liquor, milk solids, saccharine compositionscommonly known as milk chocolate, sweet milk chocolate, milk chocolatecoating, sweet milk chocolate coating, skim milk chocolate, buttermilkchocolate and mixed dairy product chocolates. Furthermore, compositionsmade from sweet chocolate or cocoa and fats other than cacao fat areintended by the generic term. In these latter compositions the cacao fatis replaced entirely or in part by one or a mixture of two or morevegetable food oils or fats other than cacao fat, which may be hardenedor hydrogenated. Such coatings are employed primarily to obtainvariations in melting point.

The chocolate and chocolate compositions as described above maycontainadditives as spice, ground vanilla beans, any natural foodflavoring oil; oleoresin'or extract, vanillin, ethyl vanillin, coumarin,or other artificial food flavoring, but ter, milk fat, driedmaltedcereal extract, ground coffee, ground or whole nut meats, salt,and viscosity modifiers such as lecithin.

' The stabilizing ingredient which is incorporated in accordance withthe present invention comprises a combination of a lioophyiic partialester of a long chain fatty acid with a polyhydroxylic compoundcontaining at least one bydroxyl group for every three carbon atoms anda hydrophilic compound of the formula:

wherein:

R is analiphaticacyl radical containing at least 12 carbon atoms,

R. is hydrogen or an aliphatic acyl radical containing at least 12carbon atoms,

11. is 2 or 3, and

z is a number from 4 to 60.

The lipophilic partial esters of the fatty acids which are particularlyeffective are those containing at least 12 carbon atoms in the fattyacid radical, such as those obtainable by the hydrolysis of naturalfats, oils, and waxes. Suitable po-lyhydroxylic compounds containing atleast one hydroxyl group for every three carbon atoms .include glyceroland polyglycerols; pentaerythritol; pentitols; hexitols and the cyclicethers thereof; cyclitols such as inositol; oligosaccharides such asglucose, sucrose and lactose; and the. glycol and lower polyglycolethers of such polyhydroxylic compounds. Lipo-philic partial esters offatty acids containing from 12 to 18 carbon atoms such as those oflauric, palm-itic, stearic and oleic acid'with hexitols and the cyclicethers thereof havebeen found particularly effective. These partialesters may be prepared by one of several known methods; such as bydirect. esterification of the polyhydroxy material with the free fattyacid or by alcoholysis of naturally occurring esters with polyhydroxymaterial, using suitable catalyst. The hydrophilic component 'asdescribed above can be prepared either by direct esterification of apolyoxyalkylated diol with one or two mols of a fatty acid, acondensation of long chain fatty acid with an alkylene oxide or amixture of alkylene oxides which may be then further esterified or acombination of the two processes to obtain both the esterification andthe etherification linkages which are necessary. Derivatives suitable inthe present invention include those containing an average of 4 to 60oxyalkyl'ene groups per mol. The preferred derivatives are thepolyoxyethylene ether esters of the fatty acids containing from 1-2 to18 carbon atoms and an average of 6 to 30 oxyethylene groups per mol.These compounds are well known to the art and their preparation will notbe described in detail herein.

Thecombination of the lipophilic partial ester and the 'hydrophilicether ester components, as described above, is preferably in the ratioof 1/1. However, either component may be present to as much as 80% ofthe mixture. It has been found that the ratios of 25/75; 50/50; and75/25 ofpartial ester to polyoxyalkylated acid are particularlyeffective. These combinations are effected by simply mixing thecomponents with stirring at room temperature in the desired proportions.The components are either oily liquids or waxy solids. If one or bothcomponents is a solid, the 'solid component is melted prior .to

combination followed by mixing with stirring at the elevatedtemperature. Concentration of the inhibitor may be as high as however,a. preferred range is 0.5 to 1.0% based on the weight of chocolatecomposition.

In the preparation of the chocolate composition, a solid chocolate ofconventional commercial origin ismelted and the inhibitor is added inthe liquid or molten state in the desired proportions with constantstirring. The mass is then tempered following the usual procedure. Suchchocolate is available for the dipping of centers, or it may be castinto molds for the production of chocolate bars.

The following examples are cited to illustrate the invention. They arenot intended to limit it in any way.

EXAMPLE I A chocolate bar containing 1% of a mixture of sorbitanmonostearate and *8 polyoxyethylene Indicates average number ofoxyethylene groups per mol of acid.

stearate in a 75/25 ratio, is prepared by melting 300 grams ofbittersweet chocolate at 50 C., and adding 3 grams of the stabilizer tothe molten .mass with constant stirring. The molten material is temperedby gradual cooling to 25.5 C.,

holding this temperature for ten minutes and raising to a holdingtemperature of 30 C. A bar 3%. x 1%, x 4 inches is cast from the melt.The bar is passed through a cooling tower where the temperature of theentering air is 11 C. It is allowed to stand for 24 hours at 25 C. It isthen subjected to an accelerated bloom test which comprises storageunder temperatures alternately at 33 C. and 15 C. for periods of twelvehours at each temperature over a total of 48 hours. At the end of thistime the bar shows no sign of bloom and excellent snap.

A sample without added inhibitor, treated identically and testedsimultaneously exhibits decided surface bloom.

EXAMPLE II Another bar containing 1% of a mixture of sorbitanmonostearate and 8 polyoxyethylene stearate in a 40/ 60.ratio isprepared and tested following the procedure of Example I. No sign ofbloom is apparent at the conclusion of the accelerated storage tests.

While the examples are limited to chocolate bars, it is apparent thatthe concept is available for much broader applications. Thus, thechocolate may be ground or in the form of chip or powder. Furthermore,it may be a coating applied to any form of edible product such as uponfinely centers, cakes, fruit, ice cream and the Among the variousinhibiting agents which may be employed are the following as expressedin Table I.

sorbitan monoricinoleate Sorbitan triricinoleate Mannitan diricinoleateSoribitan monolaurate Sorbitan dilaurate Sorbitan tristearate sorbitanmonopalmitate Sorbide mouopalmitate sorbitan monooleate sorbitantrioleate Mannide monolaurate Mannitau trioleate 1 Propylene glycolmonostearate Glycerol monostearatc Glycerol distearate Sorbitolmonostearate dioleate Mannitol leate Dulcitol monolaurate monostearatedio- 20 polyoxyethylene distcarate' 4 polyoxyethylene oleate 8polyoxyethylene oleate l2 polyoxyethylene oleate 8 polyoxyethylenepalniitate 20 polyoxyethylene palmitate 40 polyoxyethylene palmitatestearate l0 polyoxyethylene myristate 6 polyoxyethylene arachidate 4polyoxypropylene stearate 4 polyoxypropylene oleate4polyoxypropylenepalmitate 6 polyoxypropylene stearate 6polyoxypropylene ole-ate 6 polyoxypropylenepaliniiate 4polyoxypropylene, 4 oxyethylene stearate 4 polyoxypropylene, 4oxyethylene dioleate 4 polyoxyethylene, 4 oxypropylene palmitate oleatcIt is understood, of course, that the various items, m either column maybe used in any comlate and as a bloom inhibitor a mixture of alipophilic partial fatty acid ester of a polyhydric compound containingat least one hydroxyl group for every three carbon atoms and ahydrophilic compound of the formula:

R (OCnHZn) 20R wherein R is an aliphatic acyl radical containing atleast 12 carbon atoms,

R is a member of the group of hydrogen and an aliphatic acyl radicalcontaining at least 12 carbon atoms,

11 is an integer between 1 and 4, and

z is a number from 4 to 60.

2. A composition of matter comprising chocolate and as a bloom inhibitora mixture of a lipophilic partial fatty acid ester of a polyhydriccompound containing at least one hydroxyl group for every three carbonatoms and a hydrophilic compound of the formula:

R (OCnHZn) 30H wherein:

R is an acyl radical containing from 12 to 18 carbon atoms,

12 is an integer between 1 and 4, and

z is a number from 4 to 60.

3. A composition of matter comprising chocolate and as a bloom inhibitora mixture of a lipophilic partial ester of a fatty acid containing from12 to 18 carbon atoms with glycerol and a hydrophilic compound of theformula:

R (OC2H4) zOH wherein R is an acyl radical containing from 12 to 18carbon atoms, and z is a number from 6 to 30.

4. A composition of matter comprising chocolate and as a bloom inhibitora mixture of a lipophilic partial ester of a fatty acid containing from12 to 18 carbon atoms with a hexitol and a hydrophilic compound of theformula:

R( OC2H4) 20H wherein:

R is an acyl radical containing from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, and z is anumber from 6 to 30.

5. A composition of matter comprising chocolate and as a bloom inhibitora mixture of a lipophilic partial ester of a fatty acid containing from12 to 18 carbon atoms with a hexitan and a hydrophilic compound of theformula:

R (OC2H4) zOH wherein R is an acyl radical containing from 12 to 18carbon atoms, and z is a number from 6 to 30.

6. The composition of matter as described in claim 5 wherein thelipop-hilic partial ester is a sorbitan stearate.

7. The composition of matter as described in claim 6 wherein thelipophilic partial ester is sorbitan mono-stearate.

8. The composition of matter as described in claim 6 wherein thelipophilic partial ester is sorbitan di-stearate.

9. The composition of matter as described in claim 6 wherein thelipophilic partial ester is sorbitan tri-stearate.

10. The composition or" matter as described in claim 5 wherein thelipophilic partial ester is a sorbitan oleate.

11. The composition of matter as defined in claim 6 wherein thehydrophilic compound is a polyoxyethylene stearate.

12. The composition of matter as defined in claim 7 wherein thehydrophilic compound is a polyoxyethylene stearate.

13. The composition of matter as described in claim 8 wherein thehydrophilic compound is a polyoxyethylene stearate.

14. The composition of matter as described in claim 9 wherein thehydrophilic compound is a polyoxyethylene stearate.

15. The composition of matter as described in claim 11 wherein thepolyoxyethylene stearate is 8 polyoxyethylene stearate.

16. The composition of matter as described in claim 12 wherein thepolyoxyethylene stearate is 8 polyoxyethylene stearate.

17. The composition of matter as described in claim 13 wherein thepolyoxyethylene stearate is 8 polyoxyethylene stearate.

18. The composition of matter as described in claim 14 wherein thepolyoxyethylene stearate is 8 polyoxyethylene stearate.

19. The composition of matter as described in claim 5 wherein thehydrophilic compound is a distearate.

SHERWOOD THOMAS CROSS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,422,486 Johnston June 17, 19472,539,518 Mayberry Jan. 30, 1951

1. A COMPOSITION OF MATTER, COMPRISING CHOCOLATE AND AS A BLOOMINHIBITOR A MIXTURE OF A LIPOPHILIC PARTIAL FATTY ACID ESTER OF APOLYHYDRIC COMPOUND CONTAINING AT LEAST ONE HYDROXYL GROUP FOR EVERYTHREE CARBON ATOMS AND A HYDROPHILIC COMPOUND OF THE FORMULA: